A Brother of the Wild's
by ASWCpotato
Summary: Life was never the best for me. No, Lady Luck seemed to have a major grudge against me. But never did I think that I would live twice. But you know, lightning never strikes the same man twice. Girls of the Wild's SI fic, irregular updates. Will hopefully update at least once a month.
Darkness. Everything was black, pitch black. A slight haze, an extra blob of additional fuzziness that had first escaped my attention had blanketed the entire area, far as I could see. Then, a window of light, pure white, appeared in front of me. Being nothing more than non-corporeal, post-morgue soul, I floated to the gate, and pushed what remained of my will into the light.

6 months. From what I could tell from observing everything around me, I had been reborn as a six month old baby. Relatively speaking, I had only seen a calendar, and flipped through it. I was not able to read anything in it, but from the few marks that had been drawn in it; a baby had been born 6 months ago into "my" family. I was quite worried. The language they spoke here sounded vaguely from the Orient, that much I could tell. Being formerly Chinese, the remarkable similarities I could detect from "my" parents speaking seemed to me enough evidence to for it to either be Japanese or Korean. Of course, my tongue was not developed enough to speak, but that could be worked on easily. What worried me the most was how to conceal the fact that I was now officially a baby that could barely move.

The baby food, I found, was remarkably good, especially considering all the horrendous comments I had heard about the taste of it. But perhaps that was because I had spent the last few years in penury, able to do nothing as I watched my sister pass away, and leave me without incentive to work, eating trash just when I had to.

A baby's body is actually far weaker than most would expect. Flipping through a calendar had taken me 3 days, and left me exhausted after each one. I resolved to become stronger, not for myself, but for the family that had now surrounded me. The warmth of love they gave to me, I found, was far better than I had imagined.

In my previous life, my parents had abandoned my sister and me when I was a mere seven years old. My sister being only three, I had to work six-hour shifts daily to support us. Of course, at minimum wage in an Asian, which isn't actually defined nationally, would have only given us 8.28 USD every day, which is not nearly enough to support two starving children. I had hoped my sister would have a good education, but that dream was cut short when she died merely 5 years after my previous parents abandoned us.

I took my own life four months later.

But here, I would grow strong for my family. I began to think of them as more than adoptive, and as my true family. Not just strong physically, but mentally too. To have a good character, to help others, to learn everything I could. Of course, this was as much cognitive action I could take for today, and so I fell fast asleep.

By now, I was nine months old. While that might not seem much, functioning at an adult level mentally had an effect on my facial appearance. I had grown to look older than my twelve years of age in my previous life. Of course, that was because there was so much stress on both my body and mind. All the worrying I had done about my second life had already begun to mark my face. I started to lose baby fat at almost twice the normal rate. Of course, nothing too drastic. I had also begun to develop some muscles, the ones I used the most in my previous life, subconsciously. I had been a boxer, Muay Thai, boxing, Jiu Jitsu, taekwondo, and kickboxing in my previous life. Living in a shady neighbor in a rich city meant that there were TV displays pretty close to where I worked. Every day, after teaching my sister, I would put her to sleep, before I snuck out in the middle of the night.

The night had always been dark, and I would silently watch the best fighters in the UFC, which was very popular in the city, and so used as a display. Being an Asian city, the shows were not on a pay-per-view basis, and everyone used free streaming from weird websites. This meant that the TV sellers would put these shows on to increase popularity with the public, and I had a chance to learn from the best.

After the TV sellers closed their shops down, I would practice the basics I could remember from my time with my parents. Push-ups, sit ups, lunges, jumping jacks, sprinting, and long distance running. I got to be so that I could do 300 push-ups, 250 sit-ups, 500 lunges, 2500 jumping jacks, sprint 800 meters 50 times, and finish off with a 20 km jog every night. I did all this to protect my sister from bullies, and myself from all the gangs in my neighborhood.

In my new life, this meant I had internalized all the principles of those martial arts, and could already start to do some light work with the basics, and train in the martial arts.

Time skip

I was now nine years old. My dad had just died, and my mom had just left my siblings and me in a rundown room. With no running water, the place was dirty, even worse than my room in my previous life. The twins, just 2, could speak in basic sentences, and were the only joy in my meager life. It seemed it was my destiny to be abandoned by my parents and had to take care of my siblings. The training I had done for the past four years in this life, and seven in my old one, had startling effects on my body. Tall for my age, slightly muscled, intelligent, and poor. That was my appearance to anyone who saw me.

However, that was not my true story. While I looked just slightly muscles, no-one could guess the force that my muscles could generate. On top of that, while my eyes shined will intelligence, I was a genius. Having an eidetic memory, as well as a perfect work ethic, made me a god in any one-to-one standards.

The last thing, my height only seemed to rank me tall for my age, but only if I were three years older than I actually was. 171 centimeters was tall for a twelve year old, but for a nine-year old, which was practically unheard of. All the work and training had only accelerated my growth, and eating leftover junk food from my siblings, that being the only food we could afford, meant that my hormones came into play much earlier.

My learning capabilities had not been stunted like in my previous life, perhaps because I already had the experience of another life, as well as love in my new one.

Time skip

I was now 15, and the twins were 8. It was my first day of high school, and the twins first day of primary school. All the work I had done had really paid off. The twins shared my aptitude of intelligence, and my body had grown to fill my now 180 centimeter frame. I had not grown much taller, but the muscles I had were starting to make a bit of a show, and for my muscle density, that was saying a lot. I had expanded my training schedule long ago, and leaned a lot more heavily into speed rather than strength. Having no fat, my body was light for a 180 centimeter athlete, just 70 kg. That is, of course, not to say that I was weak. On the contrary, I could punch, kick, tackle, knee, and elbow twice as strong as any UFC light heavyweight, which said a lot.

I had received a full scholarship from a school called … great. So I was officially now living in a manhwa. To be precise, the manhwa known as "Girls of the Wild's". I remember seeing it in my previous life, back when I was just 5 or 6 with my family. We had only gotten to chapter 180 or so, and I had no clue how it was supposed to end. I was greatly surprised that I had not caught on before receiving the scholarship. For example, the twins looked exactly the same as in the manhwa, My name was Song Jae Gu, they liked watching "Wild's league" , and most of all, the world was in 2D.

Swallowing my embarrassment, I walked the twins to the bus stop, before I realized I would be late. While sprinting to Wild's High, I thought 'The manhwa was just a story, and even if the characters think the same way as in the comic, this is my life now. I shall live it the way I will.'

Too late, I realized that I had been sprinting on the roads. In fact, I was sprinting beside a limousine, and I has a good idea of who would be sitting in the backseat. Leaping off the road and onto the sidewalk beside it, I turned around and, sure enough, I saw a girl dressed in red, pedaling furiously on a yellow bike. Well, at least I wouldn't spill coffee-flavored-milk on Queen this time, right?

No, this time, I would be run over by Moon Young on her bike.

"I'm so sorry for running into you," said a blushing Moon Young, sneaking glances at my body every time the nurse shifted my bandages. School started 15 minutes later than I had thought, and Moon Young ended up running in to me just outside the school gate. The nurse was one whose name I didn't quite remember from before, and that I hadn't quite caught the first time she introduced herself. Anyways, school was starting in ten or so minutes, and I had to find my classroom first. No wait, the nurse had said something about meeting with the director of the school, Charles Wild, before school.

Waving goodbye at the irate nurse, who had insisted that I stay for a few more minutes, and a still red Moon Young, I grunted a short "see ya later," and left for the office. After asking directions from a passing teacher, I knocked on the door that led to the director's office.

"So, Jae Gu, are you enjoying the school grounds so far?" asked Charles.

"I'm finding the hospital quite equipped, and the hallways rather full of awards," I deadpanned, before continuing the conversation by switching topics quickly.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" I questioned, seriously hoping it would be the same aa in the manhwa.

"As you know, our school had recently become a co-ed school. You are currently our only male student, so as long as you attend school regularly, the scholarship will remain, regardless of your grades. The school is a fighting-based school, so you might have difficulties keeping up with the girls here in the department." said Charles, pausing to take a breath before continuing. "That is not to say that our school does not have high standards academically as well. If you can stay in the top half of your class, academically, you will automatically receive a full scholarship to any university on Earth, even ones overseas."

'Same as in the manhwa, almost. Even the circumstances driving me to attend the school were the same. I wanted to go to a good high school to get a proper job. Yes, I even worked at the same part –time job. So let's see, getting an international ranking of #1 academically shouldn't be too hard, and at my current level, I could take on the top twenty "garage fighters" of Jonathan, at the same time, even without rules, and they could even probably be equipped with any weapons of their choice. So, getting into university shouldn't be too hard. I hadn't gone university yet because of time constraints. I had to keep earning money for the twins' life and train during nights, as well as still go to school. Because of all this, I hadn't had a chance to do extra studying outside of school. But now, because I could train during school times and didn't have to worry about my spending on school equipment, I could finally start seriously studying. I was already at an academic level of #1 internationally overall, but needed to prepare for all the specifics if I were to score all perfects in school.' Thinking all this in the span of seconds, I replied to Charles half-heartedly, "Sure."

The first bell rang, the warning bell that meant students had five minutes to get to class. Dismissed by the director, I headed to class.

After introducing all of ourselves, we were dismissed from class to attend to opening speech and party. Opting out, I decided to head home. I had a lot on my mind, and had to let it stew. Suddenly, all the students looked at their phones, then at me. Surprised, I furiously racked my brain for what had happened in the manhwa. 'Dammit, I forgot that they needed to woo me to get bonus marks. Hang on, didn't Dal Dal try to kiss me right about - ' _**Crash**_

And… there goes the window!

"Song Jae Gu, you're mine," came a voice outside the window. Reacting on instinct when I saw a body jump at me, I ducked under, turned around, and held the person with a light chokehold, to get information and to prevent escape.

'Oh wait, this is Dal Dal' I realized as I saw the petite frame.

"So, what about me interests you so much that you would break a window and try to grab me," I asked the girl.

"So … cool…" was my only answer before Dal Dal passed out and I realized I hadn't let her out of my chokehold.

Just then, I heard the sound of someone running up the stairs. It was Moon Young. Briefly, I wondered if she would kill me for hurting Dal Dal before remembering that they weren't friends yet.

"Hey Moon Young, can you hold onto Dal Dal for a sec?" I queried, hoping she would say yes. I was not unhappy when she replied in the affirmative. Adjusting my pants, which had for some reason come loose when I was holding Dal Dal, I straightened up, grabbed Dal Dal, thanked Moon Young, and we headed for the hospital wing.

After explaining my situation, the director agreed that what he had done was a stupid move, and I left for the car wash. Not thirty seconds passed before I realized two people were following me. Immediately cautious, I listened for the steps, before noticing a blondie and a pink-head amongst some bushes.

Sighing, I told Moon Young and Queen to come out of the bushes, and they did, with Queen rushing for my head before realizing that I had already prepared for her high kick and instead caught her, bridle style when she fell, before laying her down on a nearby bench. Moon young then went on the explain that Queen was intrigued by my actions toward Dal Dal, with my explanation, which Moon Young then told us that the director had spread the story.

I woke up, shivering. Was it all a dream? Was it all a … lie? No, it was all just a half truth. I was not strong enough, not smart enough, not talented enough. The hard work I put into my studies and training were there, but the evidence was not nearly so clear. Testing my memory was easy enough. Perfect memory? Nope, although I was still in the top 1 percentile for intelligence. Fighting skills? Pathetic, at least compared to what I was in my … dream. While strong enough to win a national high school MMA championship, I was not "take on the world with my eyes closed" good. My speed was perhaps the only thing I could rely on, being the one thing that remained the same.

Gone now was all my anger, frustration. Gone was my arrogance. Now, I was … comfortably numb. Not thinking, not moving. Practically brain dead. The night passed, and there I remained, sitting on the front step of my rundown "house" if the room could be called even that. The siblings awoke to their brother, now a loser, broken.

I was still, by no means, average. Still a top class fighter, still qualified as a "genius" but deep down, seeds of doubt had been sown in my mind. I was not good. Never. Always have to try harder. Nothing's ever good enough. Ever. No more time to joke around, to fool around, to have fun. All that was left of my former glory was my siblings. My siblings, still as a remembered. They had perfect memory. They were smart, but the one thing they lacked was the attitude to work hard.

But now, I think they realized. Realized that talent is nothing, and the only thing you can rely on is hard work. My sister seemed to catch on first, followed a split second later by her brother. They got it, great. It would not take a breaking like it did for me for them to work hard. How stupid I was before, to have not realized. All the work I did was more for show than anything else. I had no goals in life, none. But now, I know. Know, I understand. What it takes to be truly strong is to have something … to die for.

First day of school would start in a few hours. Mostly, I was just hungry. So were the twins, but they bottled it up, wished me goodbye, and left for school themselves. I was still dumbfounded, and broken to the point where I didn't want to live. My little brother and sister, bless, washed my face, changed my clothes, packed my bag, heated up leftovers from last week. They left, knowing I would recover faster by myself. And now, after 30 years of living miserably, I had a purpose.

It was almost time to leave for school, and so that is what I did. Testing my body for the second time, I sprinted 800 meters, counting the seconds. 105 seconds. Not bad, just a tad slower than my usual, but that could be accounted for by my tiredness. Wild's High was around 2 km from my home, so after jogging to the 1200 meter mark, and planned to sprint the rest. Still, I was nearly late for class, but not because I left late. The race between Queen and Moon Young was still on. I caught up to Moon Young, running, when she was biking, and she was so surprised she crashed into me. Or rather, she would have crashed into me if I hadn't dodged, then caught the bike, and by extension, her, from the back. Dangling by the handlebars over the lake beneath the highway, Moon Young seemed very scared. I lifted her back onto the bridge to notice the driver of the limousine that was clearly Queen's stare at me. Queen got out of the back seat, and hugged Moon Young.


End file.
